No More Pain For This Villain.

This is awkward.

'It sure is,' Blaze said as he slipped into the room. I, on the other hand, looked inside the room and then outside.

"Ren, let's go inside." Raven urged me to get inside the room, partly because of the eyes that were on us from the bottom of the stairs.

After my parents left, I thought I'd talk to Raven a bit more in my room, so I brought her back to my dorm. But now—why is this guy in my room? And how the hell did he get inside?

I stared at Alver, who stood in my room, waving at me with a full-blown smile. What's with that tacky outfit? He wore an overcoat and a big-ass hat, sunglasses, and a muffler.

Thud! n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Eek," Raven flinched.

"Why don't we have dinner first!" I grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her down the stairs before she could say anything. I don't know why, but I don't want her to meet Alver.

This guy's weird.

'WAIT! What am I to do here? Hey-Hey! He picked me up! Should I attack—princess?' I could hear Blaze panicking through our connection, but I ignored him.

We went to the diner. Mrs. Penny was fine with Raven sharing a table with everyone. It sure was awkward for Raven since it looks like she's not that used to a silent dining table.

After dinner, I just pulled Raven out of the dorm and said, "Why don't we walk out here for a while... it's nice weather."

"Is there anything—anyone in your room?" Raven questioned, her face close to mine and eyes narrowed.

"Nope, it's just way too messy, so I didn't want you to sit in such a place," I replied. "Anyways, let's go over there." I immediately began walking towards the bench.

Raven didn't say anything and just followed me. For the next half hour, we chatted over random things, but my mind was mostly stuck on one question.

Why's that guy here? I don't know the actual reason, but it looks like there has to be something important for him to leave Viceburg and come here. Was there an attack in Viceburg? I think so—Viceburg has not been attacked by demons yet.

After that chat ended, Raven left, not before giving me a long hug, which I didn't hate.

THUD!

I opened the door with force and saw Alver jump on my bed, his one hand in a fighting stance and the other holding Blaze by the stomach.

'GET ME OUT OF HERE!' Blaze yelled in my mind.

"HUP!" Alver jumped down. "Oh, it's just you, Ren. I thought—haha, these days my mind's on alert."

"Why are you here?" I asked him flat-out.

SILENCE*

There was a long pause, but Alver looked smug as he removed his hat, muffler, and overcoat one by one. He pulled the chair from the nearby desk, sat down, crossed his legs, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "It's done."

"What's done—" I almost didn't get it in a single thought, but when the realization hit, my eyes widened. "Oh, it did not."

"It did."

"No."

"Yes."

"This fast?"

"Yep."

Our back-and-forth was swift. "You managed to buy Viceburg? This fast!?"

"Yeah, just like you laid it out—just like we planned. Half of Viceburg is now my property alongside every major criminal syndicate, church, a few corrupt officials, and the Akh Helna brothers too." Alver listed the accomplishments one by one. It was exactly as I had instructed, but still, it was impressive for him to do it so quickly—about a year earlier than I had anticipated.

"That's great." I looked around and sat on the bed immediately. "Anyone suspicious about all this?" I questioned.

"The ones that were, I bought them off. Still, I made sure that nothing is under my name other than the Demacia Guild's hundred and fourth branch that I set up in the city." He replied.

The hundred and fourth branch... that's more branches than some of the top ten guilds in the Hestia Empire... maybe in the world.

"Nice, right? I just finished everything there and was returning to Sephra but wanted to come here. I was really excited to see you in Gambit, dude, but well, those creatures got the event." He sighed, yeah... that incident has had its own impacts. "Still, you've gotten stronger than before in such a short time, single-handedly taking on a whole Amphiptere... that's really something." He seemed genuinely impressed.

But I wasn't hearing what he was saying at the moment; my mind was on one thing. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"Hmm?" His brow furrowed. "Yeah, why ask?"

"Nah, this was something you could've told me via a letter too. You didn't have to come here in person, so I thought you had more to share than just this." I sighed.

"Oh, shut up! I don't know what kind of stuff you're doing out here, but for me, it's a big thing. Dude, you don't even know how much money I've made these past three months. Those criminals were earning heaps!" He began his monologue. "They don't deserve that kind of money! So I made sure that money goes to someone who deserves it—me."

I am sure this guy would sell me alive for money.

"You just thought about something rude, didn't you?"

"No, I did not," I shook my head. "Still, I don't believe—"

"Ugh, okay, you won. I do have something special to show you. Not a single soul knows what this is, so I brought it to you." Alver jumped off the chair and wiggled his palm in the air. He put a cut in the space and opened what would be called a spatial opening.

Putting his hand inside, "This here." With a tug, he pulled out a sleek wooden box. If it was a bit bigger, it would've been a coffin.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"See for yourself," he said.

I slid the box open and,"...damn."

Y'all are not ready for this and I'm not talking about what's in THIS coffin box!

btw started a series named DARK on Netflix, it's good....give it a watch~

Satan03

Creator's Thought